Why Not it’s Free

  
We’ve had another layer of fluffy white snow here, and the horses are still all enjoying their long holiday. So not a lot going on really.

  
But in other news I have now created a Horse & Country profile which I couldn’t recommend more highly, it’s completely free and there’s over 300 hours of quality videos, from master class on dressage to training your dog.

And I’ve also become an associate member of British Dressage, which is also free.

So why not they’re free!

Moorlands Totilas

If any of you keep up to date with dressage news you will most certainly know of Moorlands Totilas one of the world’s greatest dressage horses. For those of you that haven’t heard of him he is a Dutch Warmblood, nicknamed Toto, with a host of gold medals and many world records, here is a link to Moorlands Totilas’s Wikipedia page for more info.

Totilas experienced his great success along side dressage rider Edward Gal, together they made a truly stunning team, and here is a video of them.

WorldRecord Edward&Totilas-Olympia-London-English Comment from Anne Hesten on Vimeo.

 

As you can see for yourself they were very good at what they did, and you can see how happy Totilas is with himself after the performance.

Sadly Totilas’s owners sold him to the Germans, and the riding rights were handed over to German rider Matthias Alexander Rath. (read wikipedia page for further info on sale and ownership) here is a video of Totilas and his new rider Matthias Rath, please feel free to stop watching after a bit, you’ll probably want to.

Matthias Rath & Totilas at the Vechta Show from From Aachen on Vimeo.

 

I think it’s very sad to see this performance.

Snowy Days

As you can see it snowed and the whole orchard has got a good covering. I had hoped that it wouldn’t snow because the other times it has snowed since we had horses it has been horrible and has made looking after the equines very difficult, but thanks to having better facilities and by better facilities I mean a tap that doesn’t freeze, it’s been quite good fun.

This was our ride for the day down to the stables, it’s a Land Rover Defender 110 County TDI, and it is my father’s. We arrived with the feed already mixed so all the equines got a morning feed.

I try to give the horses and ponies as much turnout as I can and so they all went out in the snow, but before they got to their paddock they all had a play in the snow, here are a few photos.

Tipper rolling in the snow.

Niko heading off to explore the new snow covered surroundings.

Murphy going for a run in the snow.

Pip shaking himself down after a roll in the snow.

Here’s one of Madeline in the paddock, blowing off some steam. So as you can see they all had a lot of fun in the snow.

And finally to end the post my snow man of sorts, he is really rather dirty because all the snow came from our muddy paddock, he is possibly the ugliest snow man I have seen but it was fun making him.

I hope if any of you have snow fall you are enjoying it.

Now just before I go, hello and welcome to my newest follower and thanks for following.

Orchard Wildlife

  
As most of you will know we are keeping our equines in an old over grown orchard, there are two pieces of land that have been cleared, one where we kept our horses and ponies over summer and the other where they are currently stabled. The rest of the orchard is all over grown trees and weeds, which means there is a lot of wildlife around, the photo above has an animal in it but can you see him? (Click to enlarge) If not I’ll show you at the end of this post.

  
Here is a rather poor photo of a robin, there are lots of robins in the orchard, quite a few hang around near the muck heap, and most of the others near an old mound of mossy logs, all the robins are surprisingly comfortable near humans.

 

And here is just one of the many wild cats that hunt in the orchard, this one is one of the less feral and doesn’t run away too much, they all keep themselves in good condition and at the same time help deal with rodents.

  
This is a photo of a flock of fieldfare, but due to the dark winter days the camera can only make them out as silhouettes.

  
Here is one of the many bugs that inhabits the orchard I honestly haven’t the foggiest what it is. I took this photo last summer, when it was nice and sunny.

 And finally here is the first photo only with red markers to show you, it is a very well hidden grass snake, it may not be helped by the fact that blogger won’t let my photos be enlarged much.

Anyway I am done with my boring post about animals other than horses and ponies.

The Horrors of the Moustache

 Just a few photos today, but they really make me glad not all our equines have moustaches

 

 

Here’s Pip he looks quite sweet here, he’s just had a morning feed before he goes out with the others.

  
But the bad news is he saves some for later. Now I think we can all agree this is just unpleasant.

Anyway I will leave you with a far cuter photo here, it is Pip before he had grown his moustache as you can also see he’s younger.

Now before I go I’d like to say hello and thanks for following to my newer followers.